Steinbach City Council approved a conditional use to allow a caretaker’s residence in a unit of 236 Park Road West at their previous council meeting.  

A caretaker's residence is an accessory dwelling on a non-residential property occupied by the person or family who oversees or guards the operation.   

The owners of the unit and the applicants for the conditional use are Vernon and Sharon Friesen.   

The applicant proposes to develop the site as a storage facility for personal and business purposes, with living quarters within the structure.  

The property is designated Industrial Policy Area and zoned as M1 Light Industrial. 

City Manager Troy Warkentin says there is a previous precedent on file.  

“Conditional use file CU-2020-01 was to permit a caretaker's residence within the M1 Light Industrial zone. This application was approved by Council.”  

Vernon Friesen says the shop would be roughly 3,500 square feet and the living quarters approximately 1,000 square feet. 

Councillor Michael Zwaagstra asks the applicant how much of the time he will be living at this residence, and if it will be his primary residence.  

Friesen informs he currently has a large property in the RM of Hanover which he plans to sell, and a vacation home at the lake which he plans to utilize more often. 

“My plans are to spend a lot more time at the lake since I’m retired, and possibly vacationing in the winter months. I'm going to sell my country property and have a residence in my shop.”  

He adds that his daughter runs a catering business in Winnipeg, so he could store items from her business in the shop. 

Zwaagstra asks a follow-up question.  

“So just to clarify, is this primarily a residence where you also have some storage? Or is this a storage space which happens to have a caretaker's residence?”  

Friesen responds.  

"It's a home inside a shop is what it is plain and simple.”  

Friesen’s unit is inside a 16-unit commercial condo development. 

Waldo Neustaedter announced his support as a representative of the condo corporation. 

"We think it's an advantage to have someone living there part-time. I think it’s suitable for what we want. We don't want permanent housing there, that's not why we developed it, but we think it's a pretty good fit for where we are." 

Mayor Earl Funk asks Neustaedter if the units are primarily business or primarily entertainment and personal use.  

“The ones that are developed so far, there would be two that would be strictly business, one that would be probably a mix, and one that would be entertainment and business as well.” 

Neustaedter provides some background information.  

“When we sold the Friesen’s a lot, they did indicate to us that they do have a four-season cottage North of Steinbach at the lake. And we do know they spend a fair bit of time down South and they did sell their business, so we kind of thought that would be a pretty good fit for what we have at our site there.”  

Councillor Damian Penner says he doesn't want the City of Steinbach to start seeing commercial land and areas used for personal residences.  

"However, as the condo owner expressed, this is an advantage to a private property condo corporation to have a caretaker there. By definition, it does meet the policy standard, and there is advantage to a private business owner for a private residency to be on private land, so that's why I feel like we should move this forward.”  

Councillor Bill Hiebert adds, 

“Because there's no objections and because the developer is in favor, I don't see any reason why we wouldn't have approval for this.”  

Councillor Jake Hiebert notes he knows the applicant personally. 

“Just to be transparent to council here, the applicant's wife is my cousin.”  

He notes he has a few concerns.  

“If we're putting residential into light industrial zoning, I've spoken several times on light industrial, the deciding factor for me here is that this actually is a condo development, and not in our industrial light area. I have some concerns in that area, but in this case, I understand that because it's in a condo designation, I could go along with it.”  

Mayor Earl Funk says this is a rare request.  

“This definitely is not a question we get asked every meeting, this is definitely a one-off.”  

Funk says he is in support. 

“He does say he'll be gone in winter, he'll be gone lots of time in summer, so it will be a temporary usage. So I don't see a problem with it, especially with the condo president saying this is acceptable in their area.”  

Steinbach City Council unanimously supported the motion to approve.